The invention relates to a non lethal (or less lethal) projectile launchable by means of a fire arm, the projectile being fitted to the barrel of the fire arm—in particular a pistol—and being launched by firing a conventional bullet, the projectile comprising a body which contains a bullet trap. Such projectiles are used for law enforcement against persons. They must not inflict serious injuries to persons, but prevent them from committing criminal acts. As situations requiring the use of such projectiles can occur unexpectedly, they must be launchable by firing conventional bullets. This also requires firing a conventional bullet immediately after launching the projectile.
A non lethal projectile of this kind is proposed by the publication WO 01/11305. It is a hollow cylinder plugged outside around the barrel with a fragile impact head in front, which may contain a liquid. The hollow cylinder is closed in front by a bullet trap which is described as consisting of a material that is inpenetrable by the bullet. Further the description states that the initial velocity of the projectile is 10 percent lower than the muzzle velocity of the bullet. This confirms what the inpenetrable bullet trap suggests: Almost the whole kinetic energy of the bullet is transferred to the projectile which thus is far too fast to be harmless. This cannot be mitigated by the fragile impact head, let alone the bullet-like shape of the projectile and the stabilization wings. This projectile therefore is utterly unsuitable for the cited purpose.
With rifle grenades launchable by means of a bullet it is necessary to transfer as much of the kinetic energy of the bullet as possible to the rifle grenade in order so attain a sufficient operating range. This not least because the mass of the rifle grenade is a multiple of the mass of the bullet. Such a rifle grenade is known from the publication GB 22 23 833 A. It comprises a bullet trap that conveys essentially the whole kinetic energy of the bullet to the projectile in an optimized course/time curve.
With a projectile fit for the purpose explained at the beginning, it is important that its nature (shape and mass) does not inflict serious injury and it is of foremost importance that its impact velocity is low, even with a target at low distance. This is the problem which the invention sets out to solve.